Pete Hines talks 'Next Gen'

An interview with The Telegraph this week has delved into why Bethesda announced Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI as 'next-gen' titles.

"It was a couple of things," replies Bethesda's Pete Hines - Vice President of Bethesda Softworks - when asked why now was the right time to announce these ambitious games.

"Number one we were honestly a little tired of being asked about Elder Scrolls VI. And the Starfield trademark filing and dancing around those things. Elder Scrolls VI we didn’t really dance around, we said ‘yes we’re going to do it but there are two games to come first’.

"But that didn’t really catch on and we still had people asking when are you going to do it. And part of it was because Fallout 76 was a departure for them and saying ‘look, we want to try something very different than what we’ve done before’.

"We want to make it very clear to folks that this isn’t what all Bethesda Game Studios look like now. The next game we are making is Starfield. It is a new IP, it’s a single-playerrole-playinggame that folks understand. And then we’re going to make Elder Scrolls VI.

"They understand the context that this is something different but we want to try it. You guys are constantly asking us about multiplayer and playing with other folks, so we want to try that. But then we are going to go back to something you know us better for and we’ll get around to The Elder Scrolls VI.

"It just helps paint a better picture and a road-map for what’s next and what that’s going to look like. Even if that doesn’t come with a date of when that game is going to come out or when we’ll show it to you."

So there you have it: Bethesda wants you to know its working hard on the future of its titles and is doing so for the betterment of the industry and the hardware we use. Good!

Starfield - What we already know

Starfield - What is it?

Roughly five years ago, Bethesda parent company ZeniMax filed a trademark application for "Starfield", but ever since, fans have been asking the question of what it is, and when it is coming.

Starfield was formally announced at E3 this year by Bethesda.

After years ofrumours, the developer announced the supposed sci-fi RPG with a short teaser trailer that sets the scene for the interstellar epic.

All the official information we have about the project so far can be found in the video description from Bethesda under the trailer:

Discover Starfield, the new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios. Starfield is the first new franchise in twenty-five years from the acclaimed developers of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series.

The game expected to launch at the end of the current console cycle... or even in the next one, in time for the next Xbox and PS5.

Starfield Screenshots

Starfield, the new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios.

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Starfield - When is it coming out?

We know so very little about this game, so assuming a release date at this stage is only going to lead to disappointment.

However, the trademark for the game was filed a good five years ago at this point, so if it is something the company has indeed been working on, then we can likely expect it to hit sooner rather than later.

That said, we really don't know much about this game at all - and it could be like other Fallout titles where it gets announced, and then just floats on the peripheral of the industry, readying itself, for years to come.

We'll have to wait and see. But should something get announced, you'll find out here.

(Pic: DS)

Starfield - Bethesda Game Studios Dallas Update

Bethesda has announced that Escalation Studios - a developer that's worked with the company on Skyrim VR, Fallout 4 VR, Fallout Shelter and DOOM Snapmap - has been rolled into the company as Bethesda Game Studios Dallas.

The newly-renamed studio will be helping out on the development of Starfield, according to Bethesda. The publisher's acquisition of studios is nothing new - Bethesda now counts the likes of BGS Montreal, an office in Rockville, Maryland, and a fellow another location in Austin, Texas as studios under its overarching umbrella.

There are already more jobs going at the studio - so it looks like the official acquisition is also a precursor to expansion.

Looks like Bethesda is getting all hands on deck for Starfield.

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Starfield - Development

Post-announcement at E3, VentureBeat spoke to Bethesda's Todd Howard about the game and its design process.

“We just talked about it, and then I guess it really picked up steam — we’re going to do this, register the trademark, about five years ago,” Howard told the site.

“Then we would talk about it from time to time during that period. What are we going to do? And we started work right after Fallout 4 was finished.”

He confirmed in the interview that the title had been in development for a massive 10 years, and recently the publisher has dedicated a full development team to finishing the product.

Starfield - Social Media update

Bethesda is keen to remind people that Starfield is a very, very long way away from release, but that hasn't stopped the company setting up social media accounts for the game.

Ahead of any real news or a proper peek at the game, Bethesda has started setting up accounts for the highly-anticipated new IP across various channels.

Bethesda has now officially launched the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts for Starfield - though none of them really have that much information listed on them.

Still, if you're excited to hear more news about the games and want to be the first to see it, it couldn't hurt to give each of those accounts a follow.

(Pic: DS)

Starfield - Rumours

It's supposedly meant to be something of an RPG in the vein of Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls.

But a more recent “leak” from 4Chan of all places claims this game might bridge the gap between the Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls 6 universes.

Here's a snippet from the post:

“This is part of an ongoing planned interconnected universe of every Bethesda franchise. They gave hints of this by implying the Brotherhood of Steel creatednirnrootin Fallout 4.

“They're getting a little wacky with the lore and using "Elder Scrolls time wounds" to justify lore inconsistencies.

"Basically, Fallout is the beginning of the timeline, Starfield is the middle, and Elder Scrolls is Far Future.

“The game will feature space travel and hub worlds as well as RNG worlds. It's meant to be a test into more sandbox/Minecraft-ish AAA thing but with Bethesda gameplay and still actual designed worlds/quests/etc.